Awake
by paper.crane.daze
Summary: This is a book I wrote myself and it kinda has a Shiver/Maggie Stiefvater theme with the wolves and star-struck lovers.


Prologue

An open field, one that held many secrets, was protected by a dense forest on all boundaries, and held much bloodshed from the things that thrived and hid within it.

A tall, slender boy knelt behind a fallen tree which presented itself on the opposite side of the open acreage. His enhanced, trained eyes allowed him to easily and successfully target his prey.

Rested upon the tree in front of his view was a hand made bow and arrow, made from the very same tree he was sheltered by.

At the part where the trees created an opening archway defending itself as an entrance, a beautiful winged creature announced his presence to the field.

"I'm here Adam. As if you can't already see that!" Said the boy who bore the wings. This boy's demeanor was sickly. His head hung low and his skin was whiter than the clouds that danced above the trees. His veins that circled his face where exposed through his translucent skin and his breathing was shallow.

"You're dying! You will wither away into nothing. If I wasn't so disgusted at your choice of being I would kill you this instant!" Adam challenged from behind his bow.

"I'm surprised you haven't killed me before this time. I've seen you watching her!"

Adam's face exampled a questioning smirk.

"Don't act like you don't know who I'm talking about! Leave my sister out of this!" The sickly boy's shoulders shuddered and he started coughing.

Each cough made him weaker and weaker and he knew his time was coming. The feathers on his wings became grey, and withered. Some falling out as he slowly lowered himself to his knees.

"How can I stay away? She's perfect, beautiful, and pure while you're nothing! No one's gonna be here to protect her! You've failed as an older brother!"

The weak boy managed the most ragged snarl he could choke out. He barred his teeth and hoped for the best. Exhausted, he fell to his back and crushed his brittle wings beneath him.

Adam slowly rose to his feet and walked over to the dying body.

"You're lucky I still have a soul."

The dying angel's eyes met Adam's with curiosity and shock.

Adam raised a blade from it's binding that had been in his sock. He pointed it at the boy that now was laid on the grass like a crucifix.

"Good-Bye Michael."

Adam held the bow low in his left hand and the blade high in his right. With haste, he stabbed the blade into Michael's chest. His strength allowed him to stab through the breast bone with no hesitation.

Michael's breathing became slower and shallower until it stopped completely. The bright blue eyes that used to charm many, now turned black and held no soul within them.

Adam slowly removed the blade from his chest and watched as the once silver wings burned and turned to ash, imprinting its wing marks into the grass.

The open field held many secrets of bloodshed and terror. Michael was now one of its secrets.

Stephanie

The darkness sealed over me. I was being crushed alive by the moon that smirked over the dark earth. I felt the shadows crush every bone in my body, unsure if my screaming would help. My face scraped the asphalt ground. Little ice, cold shrouds of rock lodged themselves deeper in my face as I tried to wriggle away from the pain I faced. How I got there? I had no idea. Before that, I was nice and comfy in my bed but then everything went black and I woke up from the blistering pain that forced my body into misery.

I started to see spots as my scream faded into the darkness. _I hope a car would put me out of my misery soon. _I thought. As the last croak of scream I had left trilled out of my mouth, everything became so _clear _and I could hear everything. The oncoming car from three streets away, the cat clawing its owner's house, and the footsteps that slowly tracked behind my head.

Then the last bit of light reflecting from the moon disappeared and I was stuck in an impending darkness.

Daniel

The moon caressed the world as it normally did on nights when it is full. The trees stood still but a slight breeze carried the stench of worry with it. Normally on nights like tonight I can sense where she is because I'm so use to taking her home, she naturally finds me, or I find her. I walked a little faster down the street, hopeful to stumble upon her like it is known to happen sometimes. There was an earth-quaking scream that stopped me where I stood. _It's her._ I hated to hear her in this much pain. I felt an ache in my chest. I picked up running down the street. My feet slapped the ground with such an anxiety that I immediately ran a little faster.

As I came over the hill, a form started to take shape beyond the intersection. In the middle of street lay a wolf. She had long grey hair, shaggy though, while her eyes gazed through the streaks of white. _Found her._ I started to hear an oncoming car from about two streets away and realized we had to move. Normally no one would be driving in the middle of a town like this, but things happen. I knew it was a necessity to keep this beauty away from the world because everyone is ignorant to the world of that they live in, but now I was desperate to move her.

"We have to go now." Realizing how hopeless it would be to move a wolf by the human standard, I walked into the neighbor's lawn clapping my hands. Forgetting how stupid I must have looked, I needed her attention. I was getting panicked. The car sounded to be the next road over about to turn onto this one. "Come on! Please!" Never had this episode got this close.

As the car turned the corner the wolf sprang to her feet and ran away from the car, and me. I didn't like not knowing where she was going. I had to find her. I paced myself after her with the hopes of finding her unconscious in a nice bed of leaves that sometimes is known to happen.

Stephanie

The trees blurred pass me as I ran deeper into the woods. My claws scraped the unforgiving earth as I ran passed each branch. One by one my claws crushed the leaves under me and it was then that I realized that I wasn't alone.

Instinct told me to stop, and so I did. My body stopped itself next to a towering rock that faced into the woods. Each tree made themselves be known by creaking fiercely as the wind passed through their limbs. I bowed my head and accounted everything I saw and smelled. Everything was tainted with the smell of human. _Not good._ Humans were the enemies, the ones who hunted us and yet I felt no fear toward them. My instinct told me to run, get away from the human scent that was suddenly pressing in on me. I couldn't move. Something about this alien scent was reassuring which scared me and sent my stomach turning.

The wind blew against my face and sent a chill down my throat and out the end of my tail that was at that point pinned to the rock wall with my body. While I took my next breath my nose started to burn, an instinctive reaction to when I smelled humans. I arose my head as not to look coarse, but everything about me started to hurt. My stomach turned, and my joints pained me as if they were being cracked the wrong way. I suddenly felt to weak to stand. Mt head pounded against my skull and my tail suddenly felt as if it was getting ripped off.

I whimpered and howled into the darkness. Time started to pass slowly. Spots started to cloud my vision and right then was the moment when I felt most alone and wished for a pack. I knew they would have protected me. I was alone. An outcast. But worst, I was unprotected. My legs gave out under me and I fell on the earth. My muzzle clamped shut and I whined loudly through my teeth. I tried to howl but I suddenly didn't think I could breathe. Again I felt the human aura press against me. Suffocating me. I needed to get out of there. Now.

I saw a girl's face in my memory.

She was tall with long hair.

Her name was Stephanie.

She was me.

I suddenly felt like I was on fire and I yelped. My chest convulsed and my ears suddenly pinned themselves to my head. I shut my eyes and called for death.

Daniel

The girl laid there. Stephanie I thought her name was. She was a beautiful creature that I normally found on nights like this. Often she would lay broken in the woods where as if like fate I would find her. Ever since I moved here in this compressing small town of Gale, Connecticut, my nights have consisted of anything but sleeping. Either I played my guitar until my fingers bled, or read my library of books until my head pounded, I did not sleep. Insomnia was only a mere side effect of moving here.

Tonight she looked destroyed. Broken was her normal state in which I found her, but here tonight, if it weren't for the hesitant rise and fall of her chest, she would look dead. The wind danced with the trees and assisted the crispy leaves to the earth. The moon's beams cast white shadows over Stephanie's face and extenuated the way her lips fell perfectly apart, a single trickle of blood cascaded down her cheek and I knew dawn was approaching.

It was too often that I found her someplace I had no idea where to go to carry her home. As trees stood still around us, calming, and knowing feelings pulsed through my veins.

I looked down. Seeing her in this state had always ached my chest and sent me into a world of confusion. It was only about two years ago that I first started taking her home.

I remembered sitting in my room in the dark, contemplating my life. My mother had since disappeared, and my dad became a walking abuse-ment bar. (if any thing, that was the one joke I could afford to choke out.) Too often he came home with whisky on his breath, and adrenaline pumping in his veins. Apparently my face was his way of beating out his drunkenness and sadness. Of course, I didn't dare hitting her back, because trial and error proved me wrong.

Stephanie's sudden whine snapped me back to reality.

Watching her still on the ground spoke a thousand words. My life could be worse. Example A was crumbled at my feet. Another wind carried through my coat and chilled my spine. I knew I had to take her home. This became routine, and I never once objected.

I bent down and picked her up into my arms like she was as fragil as a babydoll made of tissues. She wore nothing, which should have fazed me, but it never did. She just looked so sad and small. It amazed me that her body could be either a creature of the night, or this beautiful day walker. That's what I called her; a day walker. She was a wolf at night then human by the rise of day. Cheesy right? For someone who didn't sleep, I thought it was pretty clever.

I carried her through the woods and my feet crushed the little organisms under us. I could have sworn she was dead, and I hated myself for thinking it, but Stephanie didn't move. An uneasy tinge of terror streaked my blood cold. Never had she been so still before.

The moon stared at us, so deceiving.

I rounded the corner to where her house met the boundaries of the woods. Her window faced the woods and was always left open. I was the one who always shut it. I stepped in her window, set her down in her bed, stepped out, and then walked away. The lawn that surrounded her house already was coated with the morning's dew.

My mind wheeled and I wondered how long this would go on. I wondered if I would be taking her home for eternity. It was fine by me. She occupied the part of my mind that I always used keep in the dark. She lightened it. Even though Stephanie didn't even know I existed, there was trust between us. Even if she didn't realize it. Yet.

Stephanie

I dreamed that I was a wolf. I dreamed that I ran through the woods free, and away from civilization. I dreamed that I had a pack and that packed respected my authority as the leader. Nobody would dare get in my way.

Except a human. There was a boy that stood in my way. He looked at me while I scowled at him. There was a moment when I thought I could talk to him. Then I everything went black

In the next part of my dream I was being carried home through the trees. A boy with dark, long hair carried me. My head fit perfectly in his arm and I felt like he was my shelter.

As I started slipping into consciousness I realized how _cold _it was. I tried to stretch and that was when I realized I was naked. Naked, _really?_ Some girls I understand might sleep in their birthday suit, but not this girl. I normally slept in my cami and quite comfy pajama pants with penguins on them.

I let out a shaky sigh, still confused and shocked by my clothing choice, or lack-of, when I realized I was sore. My body felt as if it had gone a million rounds with a universe champion wrestler. I carefully stretched my hands above my head to find the damage and I realized that my shoulder was the only part of me that I could pin-point any true pain.

I reached over to my table that presented the time, and my always nice-folded robe. I checked the time. Seven-thirty. Just on time, I thought. I grabbed my robe and threw it over my body to make me seem at least a teeny bit presentable.

I padded down the hallway and ended up in the bathroom. I looked in the mirror, nervous to what I would see.

I never remembered a time when I thought I could look any worse. My naturally long, curly hair looked worse than I thought. There were no signs of curls, or life in that matter anywhere on my head. It was just frizz and poof . . .

My shoulder started to ache again. Frustrated at not being able to remember why it felt this bad, I lowered the robe covering my shoulder a little bit and noticed what caused my discomfort.

I had a burn. Carpet? No, it had lodged pebbles. Road burn? Sure felt like it. I couldn't remember how I got it. _There has never been a more confusing morning like today's_ I thought. I stared at the weak girl in the mirror whom stared back with an unfamiliar face.

After cleaning myself up and changing into my comfy jeans and a white-knit blouse, I started up a pot of coffee. I had school in a little less then an hour and decided that I didn't want to hang here at home. My mom worked and was basically invisible. It wasn't her fault that her job sent her all over the state, but sometimes this house feels too empty. _Like now_ I thought.

I was a junior in Gale's public high school and worked weekends at the Fish Sister's bookstore. I have lived in this house since I was born, and my memories flood every corner of the house. Especially the dining room table I sat at.

It was at that table one year ago that my mom told me the worst news I have ever heard in my life. It was here that I sat where I learned that my father died. Apparently someone ended his life for the paper in his wallet. I thought that I would never be happy again. I never used to get along with my mom when my dad was alive. Actually, until his death, I absolutely hated her. After he died, it was like a whole parallel world. She became quiet and less selfish then I thought she was. She _listened_ to me; forty-five of the sixty minutes I see her a day. If she was home.

It was normal for me to be awake with my mom an hour before she went to work, and two hours before school started. That was when we normally talked. Until about a week ago, I haven't said two words to her. In fact, I don't think I have even seen her since last Tuesday. Oh, well. Not surprising. It was only Thursday today.

I looked at the clock and noticed it was time for school. I grabbed my keys off the counter, and headed out the door, backpack in hand, to go to my car. It was a comfortable jeep with leather seats and a great speaker system. I had always liked jeeps because they looked graceful and yet they dominated the road whenever driven. Even though the engine is faulty, I have a duty to use it. It used to be my dad's.

Daniel

"_Where the hell_ _were you las' night!?_' Screamed my all-mighty father. Considering he got home early last night early (for him) at two o'clock, I promised myself that I wouldn't punch his smirked face for spitting on me. Yet.

We stood right in the middle of the kitchen. My back was pressed against the fridge as my parental unit stepped closer and closer to me.

"Jesus! I told you I was in the bathroom when you got home!" Which wasn't a complete lie considering my escape route is in and out of my bathroom window. I got home at 2:30 after bringing Stephanie home. Right after he checked the bathroom. My mistake.

"I check'd the bathroom bef'r your room! You weren' a'ywhere!" I could basically see the vein pulsing through his neck. He easily proved his incoherent parent skills he had about a week ago. Leaving at seven each night and not coming back until six in the morning the next day allotted my hatred of him to permeate throughout my mind.

Especially since none of it was work related. That liar.

Even if I wasn't two inches away from his face, the obvious stench of alcohol was apparent. It was also apparent that if he doesn't lower his voice I'm going to break his teeth. I didn't like yelling, screaming, or his ugly face in mine. Even though it was true I wasn't home, I would not let him know the truth. I felt bad for lying, but my feelings totally changed within the next heartbeat.

I felt the crack and the heat before I felt the pain.

Stephanie

I pulled my rustic jeep into the dull parking lot of my school and suddenly noticed my surroundings. The trees were rich with color, and the sky held a beautiful gray blue that I've seen as a choice for colored contacts before.

A silent buzzing from my pocket made me jump. After parking the car, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my battered cell phone that was at least four and a half years old.

One New Text Message

From: Mom Cell

Mornin Steph, Im gonna be late 2nite.

Leftovers in da fridge. since I wont

be home till late -sweet dreams

XOXO

~MoM

Another late night. Home alone. What else is new? I didn't really feel like the day could get anymore dull so I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door to the school. I let myself in the front two doors of the school and headed to my first class, physics. Mrs. Fredrick was the teacher and I thought she might be one of the only teacher's that I'd miss after graduation.

After my dad's death, she was the only teacher that gave a care about it. She gave me space. Which at the time felt nice, but now, I just feel isolated. At this point, I don't even remember what suffocation felt like.

The bell rang and I was in my seat last. Everyone stared as I walked down the center isle. Marissa gave me a dirty look, but she gave it to me so often, I realized her face just might look that way. Sucks for her. I snickered to myself and sat down.

The school day went by slowly. Too un important to remember.

On the way to my car my friend Rachelle caught me by the sleeve. It was nice to see her because I didn't have lunch with her today. As always, she debriefed me on what I missed during the last 24 hours we weren't together.

"Oh. My. God. Did you hear?" I think my confused face gave my reply away so she continued. "There was a wolf sighting. Here, in Connecticut!" Her words didn't process through my head until I repeated them again in my head.

"Whaat? When!?" I was shocked, in awe, and about to scream. I didn't realize that it was real life until my head started to feel like it was being ripped open. My head throbbed like it was being smashed against a rock. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over . . .

"Rachelle, I got to go. I'll call you later." I got in my car and drove. I know bad driving included driving with your eyes closed, but my head hurt _so_ bad I couldn't breathe.

After driving for three erratic minutes, (I counted every horrible one) I needed to pull over before I passed out.

Colors danced behind my eyes and my hands started to turn purple from gripping my wheel so hard. After two minutes of sitting on the side of the road in writhing in pain, I gave up, wrapped my hands around my knees, and begged that this pain would some how send me into unconsciousness.

The last thing I remember was a tapping at my window.

Daniel

Noses are supposedly one of the most sensitive places on the body. I can see why.

Parenting fact number one: Don't break your son's nose. I guess my parent didn't study his facts.

I remembered his fist sent flying toward my face and connecting square in the middle of my face. I felt the warmth of the blood stream down my face before I felt the crackling pain of the blow. If it were I who punched him, I would have been very proud of the good hit, but since it was he that punched me, I lost it.

Blood splattered from my face to the ground, as it was my fist that connected with the side of my dad's face. Once, twice, third time's the charm. _Bastard_, I thought. I have waited forever for him to give me a good reason to punch him.

My frustration from within snuck its way from my heart to my fist to his face. This frustration came from all the times he decided to come home drunk and make me his little bitch. I hated him. I hated him! Sometimes I blame him for my mom's disappearance. Who knows? Maybe it was him that made her go missing. Just the thought made me beat my fist harder, only this time I noticed I was beating his chest.

By the time I was about to beat him a fifth time or so, he grabbed my hand and  
"gave me what I had coming." His fist came fast flying to my temple and I grunted from the fiery pain. I felt hot liquid drain from my eye socket and I realized that his punches became more and more frequent. It felt like he was forcing my face inside out.

"I. Hate. You!" I screamed in between punches. My vision started to go black and my instinct told me to _get out of there_. Right before all my vision became total blackness I clumsily ran out of the kitchen and out the door.

"Ahhhh!" screamed the man from inside the kitchen. He was no father of mine. All those tears wasted on his shoulder when I realized my mom wasn't coming back, were wasted on a beast of a father. I ran into the middle of the road, took one last look back at the house, and I vowed that would be the last time I would see that blasted poor excuse for a home again.

I was filled with emotions. I was pissed, full of hate all directed to one person, sad, and wanted to leave and never come back. The idea of literally running to Alaska sounded very convincing until I got a really bad creepy feeling. The one that kind of feels like it's sliding its way over your shoulders and about to grab you in surprise. I felt something was off. And it was. My head started to pound to the beat of a different heartbeat.

My head started to feel like it was getting ripped open. It felt like someone smashed my head over, and over again. No mercy. It was no coincidence that I just had my ass handed to me by my father.

I wiped all the blood off my face onto my shirt and realized that my nose was stopping from bleeding. _Thank god_.

Through squinted vision, I glanced down our street, which was at that point littered with leaves that had just fallen from the tipsy trees. From beyond my neighbor's mailbox, I saw a jeep. This elevated my curiosity and my masculine chromosomes made me want to investigate. It wasn't because I cared for strange, misplaced jeeps on my street; it was that the jeep that gawked at me looked extremely familiar.

The dark blue tint of the rough paint job that covered the vehicle sent me through memories. The countless nights when I passed this jeep exploded through my head. It almost hurt more than the headache.

Stephanie.

My heart began to pound when I realized that I might actually get to talk to her. Never in the past two years have I ever dreamed about talking to her. It didn't even occur to me until then that I have never once seen her beauty during the day. All the times we've met, was in the streets or in the woods of Connecticut. I have dreamed, metaphorically speaking, about meeting her face to face for the last agonizing _two years_! I started to get a nauseous feeling in my stomach when I realized: Stephanie wouldn't know who I was. I was some stranger to her. Some alien from a different world who always wanted to meet her. Some desperate alien.

The part of my mind that was always wandering told me to approach the jeep. It was black or white: approach or not to approach. Those were the options. I leaned toward option one.

My vision was still clouded from the damn fight I got into with my dad and I hesitantly walked toward the car. The closer I got toward the car, the more obvious it was that it was vacant. I didn't see anything but the silhouettes of the driver's and the passenger's seats. _And it was all a game. No one's there. Thanks to anyone who can here me! I thought it was her! Damn it. _I felt a hint of disappointment in my stomach. My head was scolding me for getting my hopes up to such a level. I could've basically felt my brain screaming and insulting the rest of my body.

I inched closer to the jeep to humor the one part of me that believed she was there. My gazed followed the outline of the window of the jeep, the steering wheel, and the subtle curve of Stephanie's shoulder, and then the rest of her body.

My breath was ripped from my lungs and my voice was stolen by insecurities. My hands started to tremble as my vision was blocked with the one obvious worry: _Why was Stephanie laying unconscious in a car on the side of the street? _I'd figure I would ask her. Hopefully.

I tapped on the window thrice in the hopes to discover a response. Her head tilted slightly to the side as if a response to the sound of my tapping, but her eyes stayed shut. I let out a shaky sigh of relief when I realized I wouldn't have to explain who I am at that moment. That day will come. I knew it was inevitable. _When_ was the mystery unsolved.

I pondered the idea of taking her home, how natural it would feel. How reassuring it would be to feel her safe, in my arms. I pictured laying her in her bed, her kingdom that I was worthy enough to know.

The wind swept the greenery of the trees and assisted their landing on the hood of this jeep that now carried my world. There. I said it. Stephanie was now my world without her knowledge. Creepy? Yes. Do I intend to change this fact? Not yet. Only when I would be able to let her go would I sacrifice my world, my earth to the open universe.

Without thinking, I slowly, quietly opened her door and allowed myself to snake a hand behind her back and head. I lifted this little piece of heaven out of the jeep and allowed myself to just hold her for a second.

I held tightly in my arms and kicked the door shut with the side of my boot. It was completely natural to feel her porcelain skin against my chest. The crook of her neck fit perfectly against my forearm. It was then that I realized the shadow of my father (_Father_ was now a _very _loose term for this man.) walk out of the house. Notice I used the term _the house_ and not _my home._ It hasn't been my home in a while.

It was then in that moment that I decided that it was time to go. I followed the border of Turtle Wood to the side where her house faced the boundaries of the woods. Turtle Wood was named from the shape it looked like from a helicopter. I believed what photographs said because I was one who duly noted never to go on an aircraft. It's my phobia. Heights in general scared the crap out of me. After all, its not required in life to ride an aircraft.

I lead our bodies to her window while syncing my movements in between her subtle, slow breaths. Because of the lucky guy I am, the window was an open invitation to enter and lay her in her palace.

Yes I considered her home a palace because it was at least three stories high, with a big roof, and two (two!) different garages for cars. _Heaven_ I thought.

I stepped my left foot in her window and laid her peacefully in her bed like I have done plenty of times before. It was normally at this time that I would slowly close the window, whisper good-night and head off home to where sleep was hiding behind hidden, locked doors.

It was then that the situation I was in hit me like a freight train. I gasped audibly when my head started to pound with all the memories of the past hour. I was homeless, and standing outside Stephanie's window and it _wasn't_ night! (I sometimes had dreamed that I was outside Stephanie's house just like this. But then the morning had always cursed me out of the parallel world that was my dream.)

I ran my hand through my tousled hair and leaned against Stephanie's house. I slowly sank to the ground and pulled my legs close to my person. I had nowhere to go and I my head was full of confusion. I felt tired. Exhausted like I had just ran to the moon and back. Sleep was out of the question because in no way would I be able to sleep any way. I thought.

It was a weird sensation when I felt my body start slow down and inevitably stop working. It was like my brain was being auto-piloted to sleep mode. I made a bet with myself that any other person on this planet would realize what my body was trying to tell me. _Sleep. _My brain told me. On account of the setting I was in, I knew that it was dangerous to sleep.

My eyelids started to get heavier.

I knew that I couldn't sleep here in the nice comfy grass away from my dad because that was it. I was sitting in the grass of another person's house.

My peripheral vision was reduced down to non-excitant and I felt the sleepy side of me giving in.

What if someone sees me here on this lawn?

_Don't fall asleep! _I kept telling myself. It was very tempting to pinch myself awake. But months of no sleep won over.

_Stay awake!_

_Don't fall-_

_ Asleep- _

_ A sleep-_

_ A very restful sleep- _

I felt myself slowly falling down an unforgiving path. A restful and reassuring path- but an unforgivable and undesirable one.

_The fog and mist was so dense, I thought I was going to suffocate. The fog clouded everything and it took me a few moments to determine what time of day it was. The sun was barely visable behind the dense blanket of clouds. I was standing in a shallow puddle when I heard a scream echo throughout the fog. _

_ Yet again, the charming male chomosomes I was born with took control and I guided my feet. I found myself sprinting through the fog almost tripping over my own feet._

_ I was already out of breath when the fog started to lift. Slowly a shape started to take form on the ground. _

_ It was a girl. It was Stephanie, and she laid in a puddle; of _blood._ Vile started to rise inm my throat and my breath was lost in my chest. _

_ My hands started to violently shake and my cheeks became warm. I suddenly wanted to scream and punch anything that moved. _

_ Stephanie. I kneeled down and laid my hand on her shoulder. She was laying on her side and blood trilled from her nose and mouth, and the dagger that jutted out from her back right over the spot where her heart would be. _

_ I brushed my shaking hands through her hair and stopped when my fingers reached her neck. I felt for a pulse. Her neck was already cooling, and it was smooth and unmoving underneath my touch. _

_ My Stephanie, dead. _

_ Suddenly I felt as if I was on fire. Every inch of my body burning, and bubbling. My throat was slowly closing as I attempted to wipe away the burning sensations. It felt as if someone was slowly ripping the skin off my back. As if my back was on fire. The time passed, slowly, too slowly I felt second by second the bruning of my flesh and at that point, I begged for death. My eyes were full of hot tears that stained my face, and I gave up. _

_ I would not accept fate without Stephanie in it. I closed my eyes and begged for death to take me under. _

Stephanie

The aura of pine needles and laundry soap clouded my vision. I dreamed that I was being carried away. The smooth curve of his shoulders and his set jaw reminded me of someone, though I couldn't remember who sparked this connection.

There was a loud and sudden _CRACK!_ that woke me out of the dream. I was lying on my back staring at the ceiling. My heart was fluttering in my chest like the beat of a humming bird's wings. My breathing was low and shallow and I looked over to my alarm clock. 2:00am it showed. My breath came to a sudden halt.

_How did I get here? I was in my car…. Then there was a tapping on my window. How did I get here?_

I twisted my head to face the window trying to find some reason that would explain my journey from my car to my bed. Rain sheeted down the window in the light of the moon. It's beams shown through the window making pretty and un-nerving patterns on my bed sheets.

There was a blinding _flash_ and another _crack_ that almost sent me flying out of bed.

Daniel

A rather disturbing crashing sound woke me from my nightmare. My eyes flew open followed with an unintelligible word. _Shit,_ I thought. I might as well have said it, because the loud, painful thunder would have taken control anyway.

My heart was furiously pounding in my chest as if it was about to burst through my ribs as I recalled my dream. Just the thought of losing Stephanie for my carelessness to watch her made me want to scream. The one time I actually get to sleep, and I dream about death. Gahh life. A shiver rapidly raced through my body, thanks to fear, anger, and the fact that I was sitting, squatting rather, in mud. Damn.

It was pouring rain and it was freezing outside. Was it hailing? My breath made circles in front of my face. It came to me suddenly that I knew where I was - I was holding residence in Stephanie's lawn, more importantly, outside her bedroom window.

Stephanie

The blinding light was absorbed by a thunderous boom. I actually liked the thunder and lighting and didn't mind my room being illuminated by the consistent lightning flashes.

I would've been even more in love with melodic thunder, but it did nothing to help my aching head. My head was still in constant pounding even after my displeasing unconsciousness.

I glanced out the window to see a surprising view.

There was a boy's head peeping out from the windowsill. His head was directed away from me and I was relieved at the thought. I suddenly felt a rush of concern course through my body and my palm started to sweat. I wiped them on my jeans and leaned toward the window.

Confidence directed my actions and I addressed this situation. "Hello?" I said in a rather weak voice that surprised even me. Apparently it shocked this guy too because he practically jumped out of his skin and slowly turned his head at the sound of my voice.

The rain still sheeted down and dripped from his hair into his face. His eyes were clouded by the shadows that defined his cheeks more than I think they needed to be.

"Uh, lovely weather we're having." He said in a rather distress voice like I wasn't supposed to find him. He was next to my bedroom window; of course he should be upset that he was caught.

"Well, only if you're the kind of guy that's into the whole thunderous havoc weather thing." What I should have said was "who are you and what are you doing outside my window" but instead I just stared at him.

"Better than nothing." He gave a shrug of his shoulder and brushed of the weather like it was nothing. But in reality, hail the size of golf balls started to form and crash loudly in the mud and every so often hit him in the head and bounce off. It was quite comical.

"I don't mean to sound rude and all, but what are you doing outside my window?" I felt a hint of a smile form on my lips and my cheeks began to grow warm.

In reality, this boy seemed very familiar. Like that family relative that you recognize but their name slips your mind. His breathing was rather staggered and I could see the hesitant puffs of clouds his lips created before he spoke.

His lips parted but no sound came out. The cool air from the storm brushed passed him and into my window surrounding me with mixed emotions. I _knew_ him from somewhere. The way his shoulders were slightly hunched and the way his hair always shielded his face.

"Do I know you?" I asked quizzically.

"I hope so." He said. He said it in a way that made the breath in my throat catch. I stopped breathing when I realized who he was.

He was the boy from my dreams; the one that was always carrying me, taking me home.

I suddenly became light headed and the room spun around me. Colors danced from my vision and my whole body started to tremble.

Daniel

The frozen rocks that were crashing into my face were one type of pain that I could deal with. It was only physical. Standing in front of Stephanie was a whole other world of pain that was pure torture.

It was only worse when I realized I probably was scaring the crap out of her. Though she never had consciously seen me (other than when she was a wolf but there was no promises that she would remember) there was a flicker of familiarity that clouded her eyes and her expression. Her jaw literally dropped and her eyes instantly got wide.

It was one of those moments when I couldn't tell if she was having a heart attack, or merely surprised. I guess I'd find out.

"My name is Daniel." I didn't actually think my name would cause any recognition but it was polite anyway to introduce myself properly before she realized that this wasn't the first time I was outside her window.

"I'm Stephanie." At this point I was surprised, shocked, flabbergasted, whatever, that she didn't threaten to call the cops or run screaming.

There was another clap of thunder when I realized what she was saying.

"I know you from somewhere." My heart skipped a beat; she remembered me? How?

"Are you sure?" I questioned. The defiance in my voice was coated with a cynical thought.

"Maybe, but how?" She retorted. What was I supposed to tell her? That she was some freakish wolf that sometimes goes through bone grinding transformations often during the night?

The night was getting colder and shivers radiated through my body. The rain melted down the side of Stephanie's house and I wondered how much longer I could stand there.

It was painfully obvious that the cool water and wind masked how bad my face and nose actually did hurt. The fight with my father left incurable scars on my soul and even more obvious physical ones thrashed on my face.

Stephanie's dirty blonde curls danced with the wind and mist that permeated through the window into her room. She swayed a bit on her bed, and it was then that I realized what she was saying.

"Obviously you are outside my window for a reason. I hope that you will tell me why if I offered you refuge inside."

Was she really inviting me in? Was she nuts? Bonkers? On drugs?

I gave a shaky sigh and decided that going inside her house was better than sitting in the unforgiving rain. I slowly climbed through the window to face this inevitable fate.

Stephanie

Daniel's face was tattered and obviously showed a tainted background. His shaggy black hair danced on his head with the help of the breeze from the storm and his nose- was bleeding?

He cautiously stepped through my window onto the ground in between my bed and the window. He fully stepped inside when I realized what he actually looked like. He was at least six feet and his arms precariously hung from his shoulders. He shuddered a bit and it allowed me to notice his injuries.

He had a monstrous black eye, and his nose was pretty swollen and bleeding.

Daniel looked everywhere but at me. He obviously did _not_ want to stand in my room or in my presence.

"Um, hey would you like something for your umm nose?" It was practical for me ask such a thing because he was staining my carpet with a red mess.

He just looked at me in shock as if it was surprising that I spoke. He had that kind of deer-in-a-headlight kind of expression.

His nose dripped again on his chest and I decided he needed help.

"Stay there and I'll get you a towel." I started to walk away. "And maybe a shirt." A shirt might have actually been nice, but his beat up face told me ice was needed more then the piece of clothing.

He still looked petrified and my heart started to hum in my ears as I walked out of my bedroom. My goal was to head to the bathroom to get some toilet paper without further distractions, but I couldn't help from steeling another glance.

I looked back as I stood in the doorway and watched him stare at the ground. Daniel slowly swayed back and forth and his peculiar expression seemed shock me even more.

My stomach started to turn and hurt. I thought I was going to be sick. My body started to tense as I heard slow footsteps come from down the hallway. I knew my mom wasn't going to be home, unless she got out of work earlier than expected. _Ha, not likely. _My breathing became ragged when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Goosebumps started to rise from my arms and legs when I realized someone was standing right behind me, lurching over my shoulder . . .

Daniel

I watched Stephanie's shadow slowly disappear out of the doorway and I counted the seconds I stood in silence. _One, two, three, four, five…_

I stole another shaky sigh, and swayed back and forth planning my next move to talk and/or look at Stephanie.

I ran my hand through my hair when an all-too-familiar sound came from the hallway.

There was a very loud scream that shocked my trance back to reality.

Adrenaline cursed my actions and I sprung from behind her bed. I was out her bedroom door before I inhaled my next breath.

The lights were off when I realized a small window of light peering from behind a door at the end of the hallway.

Every instinct that I was born with told me to run and hide, considering that this house was unknown territory. But as I slid my hand on the hallway wall to find a light switch, Stephanie's scream echoed through my ears and soul, bringing me back to the mission at hand.

Adrenaline ran cold through my body as my fingers found the light switch. I was unsure if it was fear that guided my actions, or my pure instinct to keep Stephanie safe.

My face cursed my actions as I quickly ran down the hallway. My heart was pounding blood into my face and I felt every single tender spot that my father pained me with.

I ran down the yellow-walled hallway that silently reassured me in a last-ditch effort to find Stephanie.

I suddenly came to an opening of some sort, one that appears to be a try-hard rendition of a living room that can easily be a cover for BETTER HOME&GARDEN.

Miscellaneous, intricate and expensive looking portraits of people were splattered across the walls. The U-shaped leather couch trapped a small wooden table in the middle. A bouquet of orange-y flowers set in the middle.

Another scream snapped me back to reality so quickly it could have given me whiplash.

I ran forward to where the presumable front door was. The coat/hat stand was broken and lay askew on the floor. I merely had to jump over it to propel myself outside. The scene was instantaneously visible and pretty easy to understand.

In the driveway was a black creepy sedan that was quietly running, sending fumes from its tailpipe spiraling into the atmosphere.

There was a pathway of stone that lead to the driveway. Crumpled in the middle of it was Stephanie, shaking and shivering profoundly. Over her, was a black hooded figure that held a syringe in one hand, and Stephanie's quivering arm in the other. Furious tremmors pulsed through my body and my vision quickly became fuzzy.

Stephanie

Fire rippled through my body; my arm in particular. I was face down in the rocks and my breath came out as short puffs disturbing the dust from under me. My right hand was being forced above my head while my other arm was pressed to the ground, stuck by the weight of my body.

There was a freezing cold hand gripped to my wrist. On the inside crease of my elbow was where furious burning occurred. My eyes were watering forcing me to accept the fact that I couldn't open my eyes completely. I looked through the slits my eyes allowed and I saw someone directly in front of me.

The eyes that were exposed revealed undeniable hatred. The man's eyes pierced through me. His eyes were fluorescent green and were swimming in tears that fought to stay concealed. The outline of his white face blurred into the black of his sweatshirt, I couldn't see him perfectly. There was a pink smudge where his lips should have been, and his nose was gone.

My ears pounded harder in my ears as I looked at the syringe he held to my arm.

He shook his head slowly and started to slowly, and painfully stick the needle into my arm.

I gasped for air as my arm immediately started to spasm from the intruding needle.

"Don't, please" I whispered through my teeth. More slowly he started to push the liquid into my blood. It was the color of violet and reminded me of something-someone. A sudden rush of adrenaline cursed through my veins and kicked me back to reality.

As if some other force had control of my body, my hand immediately shot out from under my body, twisting me with it, and grabbed onto the boys neck. This clearly shocked him more than it shocked me. He yelped out and crushed the rest of the poison into my arm. I thought I had the upper hand, if it wasn't for the sudden dizziness that clouded my vision.

I felt my hands slowly go numb and I suddenly noticed the black spots that started to dance around. As if on cue, the man that I was once on top of threw me to the ground and pushed my head into the ground. With one hand he held my hands above my head, while his other hand put the once full now empty syringe into his jacket pocket.

A sudden heat pulsed against the back of my neck and slowly added pressure to my eyelids. The world started to fade as I noticed the increasing pulse of heat that was thumping through my body.

The last thing I remember before I was pulled into unconsciousness, was a boy with wilted wings holding my hand, only I wasn't myself, I was seven years old again.

Daniel

++++new plot: this person drugged Stephanie with wolvesbane, slowly dyeing and Daniel is trying his best to save her+++++

++Daniel is a fallen angel. A purpose to protect steph Adam an angel that must destroy all that is not pure and natural. Michael is stephanie's brother who dies because he did not fulfill his destiny to kill Stephanie—his mission she however never has met him before. And Daniel is to save steph from adam whos jub it is now to kill steph cuz he killed Michael who then passed over his job wen he died but the symptoms of her death are that the shot given takes away steph's memories. Throughout the book she slowly gains her who Michael was, remembers becoming a wolf, remembers Daniel, remembers what it was like as a wolf ++

STEPHANIE GOES TO GET A TOWEL AND IS TAKEN BY DANIEL'S MOM. WILL SCARE HER WHEN HE SAVES HER ( cuz its his mom so she doesn't trust him) big kiss in ending that ends the book :D HE HEARS SCREAM AND WALKS IN WHILE STEPH IS BEING HELD BY HIS MOM….AWKWARD

Idea: night turns me into wolf. Always returning into my bed…realizing that some one brought me back…..Daniel is the guy's name. Fall in love with him for being my "savior" Different points of view. WOLF_GIRL_DANIEL

++there are two groups of angels, protectors, and the forsaken. The protectors protect the balance of supernatural and natural, meaning that they kill most supernatural, while the forsaken are guardian angels who must save the doomed++


End file.
